Prostitution sting nets Ogden arrests

Ogden police have arrested several women in connection with a prostitution sting that used Web sites and personal ads.

"We made contact with escort services and got names off of craigslist and personal ads," said Ogden Police Lt. Loring Draper.

On Thursday, officers set up a sting operation and made appointments with women who advertised their services as escorts. Some were arrested for not having an Ogden city-issued escort license, while some were arrested for prostitution for offering sexual favors in exchange for money. In some cases, police used computers to set up the rendezvous.

"We e-mailed some of them and called some of them," Draper said Friday. "Some showed up and some didn't."

While police say they still make arrests for common streetwalkers, more and more prostitution is moving online. Some of the women involved are not even full-time hookers.

"A lot have jobs and this is a part-time job," said Draper. "We'll see an ad online and 15 minutes later, they've pulled it off. That's how quick this thing is. The Internet is definitely a place for these girls to be."

Other police agencies have begun using the Internet in their prostitution stings. In November, Layton police began cracking down on prostitution that was moving into their city by creating Web site ads to lure men into a sting operation. Layton police have said they are not encountering streetwalkers, but Internet sites where prostitutes advertise encounters in Davis County.